Note: I live approximately 30 mile from this area and I never heard this story until recently when I was seeking quantitative data on Mexico City UFO reports for possible hypothesis tests relating public opinion of UFOs and official sighting reports frequency. I didn’t find the Mexico City data I sought, but I did find this story and was nearly ill.

The following is an abbreviated account of a mass sighting incident in Trumbull County, Ohio on Dec.14, 1994. The incident involved the prolonged observation and pursuit of at least one, but more likely multiple UFOs, by no less than 15 local police officers. The local 911 office received numerous civilian reports of inexplicable craft-like illuminated objects moving through Vienna, OH and surrounding communities. Many objects were reported to be low near the ground and all were reported as displaying bright multicolored lights. Police officers pursuing the objects were able to describe specific details about the objects physical appearance including the presence of machinery-like aspects of the objects. A reporter for local TV station 33 Youngstown (ABC) initially followed up the incoming reports, but when she learned that the incident was most likely a genuine anomalous event and following a telephone call to the local FAA, she admittedly dropped the story out of fear. This admission was made in an interview with an UFO investigator in 1998.

Police officers and local emergency 911 employees are willing to publicly discuss their observations. Official verified recordings of communications between police officers and telephone communications to and from the 911 center are publicly available as well.

NBC did a report on the incident broadcast in 1999 called "Confirmation." The story went completely unreported for two years until 1996 when a UFO investigator mistakenly called Vienna, OH Police Department when seeking information on a 1988 sighting near Urbana, OH.

When the reporter made an inquiry about a recent UFO sighting the officer fielding the investigator’s call began describing events that took place in 1994. The investigator quickly realized that this was a different event from that of his initial inquiry and the event being generously described by the officer was unusually significant in terms of standard UFO phenomena reports. The event described was openly corroborated by several law enforcement officers as well as many other witnesses.

The local 911 Center provided the investigator with duplicate recordings of presumably all related communications from the night which are widely available and undisputed as authentic.

An object was first observed at a treetop level before midnight in the near Samson Drive and the Fifth Avenue Extension. It was bluish-green with flames. Four calls were placed to the dispatch office before midnight. An additional call was placed to WYTV Channel-33 news reporter 'St*%ey A.

A unit (#998) was dispatched to Samson Drive to investigate.

At this point Unit #998 viewed the object at close range. It was red and illuminating the ground with a red light "as bright as daylight." Approaching the object, the police car suffered inexplicable electrical failure and stalled. From all accounts, the object was described as 'huge.' Officer Unit #998 later stated that he encountered an elderly man in the roadway, saying: "it was right above my house!" Having reported his (Unit #998’s) observation, other units are dispatched for backup.

A call is placed to the airbase by the dispatcher. There is no answer at the airbase, and a call is then placed to the FAA tower, where the tower operator states to have nothing on his radarscope within a 60-mile radius of Youngstown.

At this point, the unidentified aircraft departs from the Samson Road area and Unit #998 advises that he was 'out of service' for a duration to "gather his thoughts." The time is near 1:00 a.m.

The UFO is again reported when Unit #429 advises central dispatch that an object is spotted to the east of the 911 center. The dispatcher, eager to view the object, steps away to look for the UFO as another person takes her place.

The object is said to be near Route 11, and several units from different locations and directions triangulate its position from areas near Kings Grave and Henheid. The object is then observed over an empty field, and changes color from whitish red to a pulsating greenish lavender.

The dispatcher returns, saying that she did not see the UFO. More incoming radio traffic relevant to the UFO causes her to 'take a break' where she plans to meet an officer who will pick her up and take her to see it Through heavy radio traffic, several unspecified police units converge upon the UFO and triangulate its position.

This documented triangulation of an aerial object from different vantage points indicates to us that it is not a star, as the object maintains a localized presence within a specific area. One unit claims that he is heading east to intercept the object. Another unit advises that he is heading north to approach the object. A unit headed eastbound advised that the object was 'southeast' of his location.

The object remains stationary over an empty field prior to a departure path to the southeast, where it is seen near an 84-Lumber hardware store. There it is described as a structured object with an attachment or unspecified element protruding from the top of it.

Every police department in the county now has the object under observation, and many units are now pursuing the UFO from different departments and localities.

Several units are maintaining the object under binocular observation, and discern a 'parachute-like' structure attached to the object. One unit tries to signal the object.

One officer, who is at the airbase, is also observing the object from his vantage point. Present with him to view the UFO is a security guard at the airbase.

At this point, "several" objects are suddenly under scrutiny by law enforcement officials. This is announced rather cryptically, as the officer states: "We have both of them under observation. I think you'll know what I mean." The exact nature of this dialog is uncertain, but it is at this time that multiple objects were observed One specific object, described as a 'white light,' appeared over the airbase, where it was observed and reported by a police officer Pursuit of these objects continued for some time, and it was again stressed that all departments in the county were concerned with the situation, and held the object(s) under visual observation.

All objects ascended to a high elevation and appeared as stars in the sky. As the objects were viewed at a high elevation, others on the police force that did not engage in close range observation of the main object, while at its low elevation, assumed that everyone else had misidentified planets or shooting stars.

Toward the end of the event, jets were seen in the area, and one officer believed they were military jets from the airbase sent to engage the objects.

One officer refuted the 'planet' comment, but stated that there were shooting stars visible. He stated that there were six shooting stars in the same part of the sky that the UFO was seen in.

One unit took exception to the remark that planets were mistaken as UFOs, and he added: "What I saw was not a planet. It was 50-feet off the ground and lit up the whole area like daylight." It is thought that the event ended around 6:00 a.m. from previous discussions with officials involved, although a specific time is not reflected on the tape.

The exact number of witnesses to this event is unknown, but the 911 center received numerous citizen reports some of which can be heard on the 911 Center recordings.

Unverified reports indicate that officers from 10 Trumbull County police departments responded to the event. The principal investigator suggests the following departments as likely candidates for having officers involved in close observation and pursuit of the object(s): Niles City PD Howland Twp. PD Girard City PD Warren Twp. PD Liberty Twp. PD Cortland City PD Brookfield Twp. PD Trumbull County Sheriff Hubbard Twp. PD Hubbard City PD An officer in the area reported climbing an observation tower and saw three hovering lighted masses in a regularly spaced formation. His communications with other officers is also on the recordings.

Other reports mentioned law enforcement investigation of similar phenomena as far from Vienna as East Palestine, Ohio around the same time. This assertion needs verification.

Other officers noted that in pursuing some of the objects, if the officers fell too far behind the object seemed to wait for then to catch up.

Perhaps most unsettling about this event is the clumsy yet mysteriously effective campaign to ignore the event. The FAA staff, working at the shared Youngstown Regional Airport and Youngstown Air Force Reserve Station at the time of the incident, were all replaced by new staff not long after the event.

It may also be of interest to note that the region in which the reported sighting took place is relatively close to a Defense Logistics Agency and National Defense Stockpile at 1740 Niles-Warren River Road, one of the biggest radar/air defense installations in the United States. The Youngstown Municipal Radar Air Defense Agency is also within the locality.

Local media deliberately chose to ignore this event despite the fact that local civil authority figures of undisputed credibility and presumed competence openly declared the veracity of the events. The media doesn’t deny the story, they just refuse to bring it to the public’s attention.

During the NBC broadcast of “Confirmation” in 1999, NBC totally ignored the 5 year gap between the event and the report.

Included in “Confirmation” was an interview with an astronomer who has a reputation for slanderous statements and a decidedly unscientific anti-UFO stance blatantly accused all witnesses to this event of mistaking stars for large, complex, brilliantly lit airborne objects.

The CO at the Air Force Station, also in charge of PR for the Air Force Station, spoke on behalf of the military and blatantly denied, dismissed and derided the whole incident.

The principal investigator made two requests for all data for the Youngstown Airport/Air Force Station regarding air traffic on Dec. 14, 1994. The request was made in accordance with The Freedom of Information Act. Both request were flatly denied If one does minimal fact-checking, this frightening incomprehensible incident will be corroborated and verified via a myriad of sources. I find it disturbing that the incident is not already included in the database and this fact alone begs many questions.

Anyone truly acting responsibly must bring this national and potentially global security threat into the public eye. I find it disturbing that North Americans actually disbelieve in UFOs when they are a well-documented officially recognized phenomenon. A UFO is simply an unclassified airborne object and nothing more can be said about them with impunity, yet many N. Americans are ill-informed and largely misunderstand the phenomenon. While this event should have been the story of the late twentieth century, it is instead buried in obscurity. One would think that if NE Ohioans really understood that so many local, credible, civic officials trained to quickly and concisely assess conflicts and threats were witnesses to an event of this magnitude and importance and yet were all deemed incredible, deluded and incapable of distinguishing a star from an aircraft, by the Feds, that the citizens of NE Ohio would be united in indignation and demand an explanation, but for some reason this is not the case.

It is all-too-familiar and frightening. The motivation and reasoning behind the military’s public stance on UFOs is incomprehensible. To allow large unidentified objects to invade our air space, potentially drain resources and instill existential terror among innocents is tragic. Then for the military to wholly deny it, leaving perfect sane productive members of society marginalized, confused or worse.

The mystery of the phenomenon while inexplicable for years, is growing more and more ubiquitous. Slowly, people are learning and I think the Federal authority’s position ( that I can only hope is erroneously intended for the good of the people), may become a liability as faith in our own institutions decay in the face of incongruent and mounting evidence. The best way to solve a mystery and counter a threat is to have every hand and mind possible contributing to the effort.

I can say no more except, please, please help inform our fellow citizens. Ignored and unaddressed issues always resolve themselves one way or another. I think market and economic stability is threatened by this irresponsible outdated policy of public denial by our Federal Government. It isn’t a ‘right to know as a taxpayer” issue, but rather one of honesty is the best policy and cooperation between all levels of society in problem-solving is the best chance we’ve got of avoiding global mass-hysteria or some other even worse unprecedented catastrophe when the Powers can no longer hide this anomalous, ubiquitous threat.

((NUFORC Note: We express our gratitude to the source of this report for his having submitted such a thorough account of the Turnbull, OH, case. We are well aware of it, and it was quite well investigated, and reported, by the late Kenny Young, who was a very well-known, and highly respected, UFO investigator. PD))